Hola. I've been typing up a long (but sweet) book excerpt bit-by-bit for a long time - from even before this blog became the official SF blog. But today, as I was wondering what special post to put out to celebrate my return to switchfeeding (after a month of barely any computer access thanks to a combination of technical difficulties and change of residence), I decided to finish typing this up for you guys to read. It's also been a while since the last "song meanings" post (which you guys loved - thanks!), so this is the newest installment to that column - a thought-provoking excerpt from a very insightful book that I've been reading, that reminded me a lot of the lyrics in Switchfoot's "Circles" - and, to me, is an elaboration of the lines "don't believe that there's nothing that's true / don't believe in this modern machine!" The last paragraph of the excerpt sums it up well (and reminds me of when Jon said something similar while explaining "Lonely Nation"):
The peoples of the modern West (and the middle classes of non-western cultures) are better fed, better housed, better equipped with health care than those in any previous age in human history. But, paradoxically, they also seem to be the most fearful, the most divided, the most lonely, the most superstitious, and the most bored generation in human history. All the labour-saving devices of modern technology have only enhanced human stress, and modern life is characterized by a restless movement from place to place, from one 'experience' to another, in a frenetic whirl of purposeless activity.
That last sentence clearly paraphrases the idea of spinning in circles, of "another day, another sunrise, another factory call." Without further ado, HERE'S Vinoth Ramachandra (a Sri Lankan author) in an excerpt from his book "Gods That Fail" (you should totally buy the book if you like this excerpt - he's a brilliant man). thanks for reading,
-phil
PS: If you're new to this blog and would like to know why I'm here and more about our story (a couple of you had asked about this by email recently), please visit this post, where I've shared all the juicy details. Now on to the long-but-worthwhile book excerpt. (note: footnotes were excluded - 14 of them.) Looking forward to hearing your thoughts in the comment box as usual!
EXCERPT (from "Gods That Fail" by Vinoth Ramachandra):
. . .
It has often been remarked that modern men and women have little sense of history. We are all prone to consider our own generation as somehow special, unmatched in the depth of its crises no less than in its achievements. So it comes as some surprise to be reminded that many of the themes that have dominated the second half of the twentieth century were first conceived in the European 'cultural crisis' of the 1890s. Amidst the declining glory of Hapsburg Vienna, for instance, there emerged the study of the subconscious and its role in the irrationalities of everyday life, the notion of nationhood as the basis for political identity, and a preoccupation with language and its effect on the 'construction' of reality . . . The decade also saw the rise of sociology as an organized scientific discipline with its inquiries into mass urban culture, rationalization and bureaucracy, suicide and anomie. Significant as recent global socio-economic changes are, especially in the past two decades, they should not be exaggerated. For, as even that guru of the new 'knowledge society', Daniel Bell, admitted in a footnote in his famous book, The Coming of Post-Industrial Society, 'In terms of daily life of individuals, more change was experienced between 1850 and 1940- when railroad, steamships, telegraph, electricity, telephone, automobile, radio and airplanes were introduced- than in the period since when the future is supposed to be accelerating. In fact, other than television, there has not been one major innovation which affected the daily life of persons to the extent of the items enumerated.'
Those who subscribe to the more radical postmodernist creed also hold that long-held distinctions between reality and appearance, truth and falsehood, valid and invalid reasoning, ethical principle and social conviction, are relics of a now-discredited Platonic-Christian-Enlightenment (Kantian, Marxist, or whatever) heritage in the West. The argument sometimes starts off on the liberal premise that truth-claims have often gone along with a notion of privileged access by an elite who have used their intellectual authority and political power to impose their version of the truth on others. It ends with variations on the Nietzchean theme that 'truth' is nothing more than the product of a specific human discourse, with postmodern life the belated recognition and celebration of multiple and conflicting discourses.
Hence the American pragmatist Richard Rorty's cheery recommendation to his fellow philosophers that they join theologians in giving up their deluded notions of dealing with matters of ultimate truth, and rejoin the cultural 'conversation of mankind' on equal terms with sociologists, literary critics, novelists and others who never entertained such high-minded ambitions. We should substitute 'solidarity' for 'objectivity', a sense of shared consensus-based values and beliefs for the attempt to 'get things right' from a critical standpoint. Talk of 'truth' now becomes simply a rhetorical device, a label of convenience attached to those ideas which currently enjoy widespread approval. It can be re-defined for all practical purposes as 'good in the way of belief'.
Such recommendations have a less than benign aspect when we consider how easily public opinion can be manipulated and consensus-values engineered to serve some very illiberal forms of political behaviour. Those versions of the pragmatist-post-modernist creed which are suspicious of 'outwork' ideas such as truth, critique and ethical accountability, are simply unable to discriminate between a true consensus based on beliefs arrived at by open argument and debate, and a false consensus that rests solely on collective prejudice, mass-media distortion and the force majeure of propaganda. Like those fashionable slogans proclaiming the 'end of history' and the 'end of ideology' they end up serving to legitimatise the cynical interests of American realpolitik.
Thus Francis Fukuyama, a Rand corporation protege, became an overnight celebrity on the US lecture circuit in those heady years between the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the beginning of the Gulf War--by pronouncing, with splendid assurance, the 'end of history'. Since the whole world--or the world that really mattered--had now embraced free-market capitalism and liberal democracy, ideological conflict was now a thing of the past and history had effectively come to an end. Of course there would be those awkward 'trouble-spots' around the world which refused to accept the New World Order, and critical intellectuals everywhere who still indulged in Canute-like gestures to fend off the tidal waves of change, but these could be consigned to the scrapheap of history. In a later article on the Gulf War, Fukuyama wrote: 'A large part of the world will be populated by Iraqs and Ruratanias, and will continue to be subject to bloody struggles and revolutions. But, with the exception of the Gulf, few regions will have an impact--for good or ill--on the growing part of the world that is democratic and capitalist. And it is in this part of the world that we will ultimately have to make our home.'
Here is the classic pattern of ideological scape-goating: the projection of blame on to a racial or cultural Other (the 'Iraqs and Ruritanias' in the new geopolitical order), which enables 'us' (that civilized part of the world which 'we will ultimately have to make our home') to live with an easy conscience, convinced of our moral superiority despite all the evidence of western connivance and complicity in the 'bloody struggles and revolutions' in the non-western world. Barbarism always resides elsewhere. Fukuyama's 'end of history' sloganeering disguises the massive hypocrisy, political betrayals, economic blackmail and proxy violence that have so often attended western talk of defending democracy and exporting 'free world' values. Media coverage of the Gulf War, like the coverage of American domestic political campaigns, provided a depressing spectacle of public-opinion management far more ruthless than any existing in pre-modern societies. The first casualty in the build-up to, and prosecution of, the war was truth: the re-writing of regional history, the 'whitewashing' of Kuwait and Saudi Arabian despotism, bogus casualty-figures issued for public consumption, massive urban destruction concealed by talk of 'precision bombing' and 'surgical strikes' and so on . . . But how can such a critique emerge from intellectuals who can no longer distinguish between truth and what the majority have come to believe, and how can such a critique be sustained in a world mesmerized by cable TV?
For those of us unfortunate folk who happen to live among the 'Iraqs and Ruritanias' of the late twentieth-century world, the perspective is rather different. The political naivete of writers such as Rorty and Fukuyama raises searching questions about the 'postmodernist' paradigm. Is all such talk of 'truth' and 'reality' as being fictive and imaginative constructions, having no extra-linguistic reference (often advanced, paradoxically, as a genuine and liberating insight), simply a reflection of the pervasive influence of the electronic media today? In other words, has the cultural ascendancy of advertising agencies, public relations experts, opinion-poll samplers, and 'virtual reality' engineers, lent plausibility to such notions, a plausibility that is lacking in earlier phases of modernity and in those countries that have still to fall completely under the spell of the electronic high-priests? I am inclined to think so.
Writing fifty years ago of a famous CBS radio war bond sales-drive, the American sociologist Robert Merton observed shrewdly that these propagandists were 'technicians of sentiment' and warned that 'a society subjected ceaselessly to a flow of "effective" half-truths and the exploitation of mass anxieties may all the sooner lose that mutuality of confidence and reciprocal trust so essential to a stable social structure'. It is open to serious question whether any participant democracy can function for long on the basis of consensus-values derived via the mass media. Today's 'technicians of sentiment' have achieved a level of sophistication so great that, for the bored youngsters of the affluent world, MTV and Disneyland have become the paramount reality. Madonna, of course, is the great icon of postmodernism: a kaleidoscope of shifting images (the femme fatale, the vulnerable Monroe, the androgyne, the gangster moll, the arch-capitalist, et al.), a celebration of fragmentation and the loss of depth that, as we shall see, are the hall-marks of the late modern world.
Having rejected both a biblical theology of creation and humanist talk of a 'universal human nature', writers such as Rorty are hard pressed to find a moral framework within which we can locate a sense of place and of human 'solidarity'. Rorty can only fall back on a pragmatist appeal to nationalist sentiment as a basis for policy. Thus he remarks on 'the attitude of contemporary American liberals to the unending hopelessness and misery of the lives of the young blacks in American cities. Do we say that these people must be helped because they are our fellow human beings? We may, but it is much more persuasive, morally as well as politically, to describe them as our fellow Americans--to insist that it is outrageous that an American can live without hope.' Whether such appeals are persuasive to the inhabitants of Fukuyama's 'Iraqs and Ruritanias'--who are now being wooed into the benefits of liberal democracy and respect for 'human rights'--is open to serious doubt. It is paradoxical that just as talk of 'truth' has historically been used to consolidate power by dividing people into 'us' and 'them' (a point stressed repeatedly by postmodernist critics of modernity), here even the language of 'solidarity' serves only to cement narrow sectarian interests...
1.2 Modernity as Paradox
The renowned Czech philosopher, novelist and statesman Vaclav Havel has identified the most distinctive feature of modern life as a 'loss of co-ordinates'. He writes, 'I believe that with the loss of God, man has lost a kind of absolute and universal system of co-ordinates, to which he could always relate everything, chiefly himself. His world and his personality gradually began to break up into separate, incoherent fragments corresponding to different, relative, co-ordinates...'
Havel was reflecting on the inherent weaknesses of modern western societies, the very model his newly independent country was being persuaded to follow. He saw the consumerist culture of the West to be as oppressive to the human spirit as the repression Eastern Europe had suffered for most of the present century. The recent history of Eastern Europe, he believes, holds up to the West a convex mirror, giving a grotesquely magnified image of the West's own inherent tendencies. Modernity had let loose forces that bred conformity, a herd culture, either in the overt form of totalitarian regimes or the covert homogenizing pressures of consumerism. The banal freedoms of choice, represented by the ubiquitous Coca-Cola ads, shopping malls and MacDonald's fast-food chains (which have become the universal symbol of modernity), conceal a loss of human freedoms at deeper, more profound levels. For every achievement of modernity, there is also a demonic underside. Liberal capitalism and Marxism were actually twin aspects of the same phenomenon, generated by the loss of coordinates in the modern world. They followed the 'irrational momentum of anonymous, impersonal, and inhuman power - the power of ideologies, systems, bureaucracy, artificial languages and political slogans'.
Havel's mathematical imagery is instructive. Co-ordinates express the way things are related to each other. They provide a point of reference, a scale by which entities may be measured and seen in their true proportions, a map which helps us find our bearings and our way around reality. The belief in God had been the traditional unifying focus for such a system of co-ordinates in western culture. So, in one important perspective, the modern condition is characterized by a displacement of God from that focal position. It is not the case that God has been explicitly expunged from modern consciousness (though this was vigorously attempted, for instance, by the French version of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment and also by the latter's Marxist successors in the twentieth); but rather that God has been pushed to the fringes of consciousness, and his function taken over by surrogate deities (e.g. Nature, Posterity, The State, The Market, and so on).
The historical origins of modern secular culture are still a matter of scholarly debate, and I do not propose to venture into this complex terrain. What has become increasingly clear, however, is that the popular self-image of modernity, namely as representing a radical break with a Christian worldview and the emancipation of human reason from the oppressive grip of ecclesiastical interests, lacks historical plausibility. There seems to have been more intellectual freedom in the late medieval period in Europe than in the heydey of the French Enlightenment, more participatory citizenship in the medieval 'free cities' of Europe and the 'holy commonwealths' of Puritan New England than in many of today's so-called 'advanced democracies'. The roots of modernity itself were nourished by Christian theology as much as by the pre-Christian philosophies of Greece and Rome. Max Weber's famous thesis that Puritan rationality and piety furnished the character-formation necessary for the rise of a capitalist economy is now recognized to have been greatly exaggerated, but it has served to draw our attention to the unique intellectual climate in which modernity emerged. This is seen especially in the rise of experimental natural science which remains the most prominent and influential aspect of modern society. Not only were Christian values embodied in scientific practice, but the enterprise of science itself was founded on a specific understanding of God, human beings and the world which sprang from Reformation theology.
Furthermore, the political philosopher Charles Taylor has recently highlighted what he calls the 'affirmation of ordinary life' which was given new and unprecedented significance at the beginning of the modern era. This, Taylor believes, has also become 'one of the most powerful ideas of modern civilization'. By the 'affirmation of ordinary life' he refers to the biblical notion, re-discovered in the Reformation, that the everyday life of human production and reproduction, of work and the family, is the main locus of the good life and carries an inherent dignity and worth. Taylor points out: 'According to traditional, Aristotelian ethics, this has merely infrastructural influence. "Life" was important as the necessary background and support to "the good life" of contemplation and one's action as a citizen. With the Reformation, we find that a modern, Christian-inspired sense that ordinary life was on the contrary the very centre of the good life. The crucial issue was how it was led, whether worshipfully and in the fear of God or not. But the life of the God-fearing was lived out in marriage and their calling. The previous "higher" forms of life were dethroned, as it were. And along with this went frequently an attack, covert or overt, on the elites which had made these forms their province.' What Taylor asserts here with regard to Aristotelian ethics is also valid for the monastic religious traditions of Asian societies.
However, there is another aspect to modernity that eventually submerged whatever Christian paths may have led to it. The indirect and unforeseen political consequences of the Reformation, reaching a climax in the bitter Wars of Religion in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, provided the momentum which propelled the European states towards a social and political order that was based on 'natural religion' rather than on any particular confessional creed. In his massive work The Authority of the Bible and the Rise of the Modern World, Henning Graf Reventlow has explored the widespread influence of ancient Greek, and especially Stoic, sources on the thinkers of the early modern period, and the way in which the Bible, while still an undisputed authority in political and ethical argument, came increasingly to be read within the framework of an alien rationalist temper. The God of the Bible became the abstract, a historical deity of philosophical theism.
The God who is displaced from the co-ordinating centre of human thought and life doesn't simply disappear. God may cease to be the transcendent Other, standing over and above the human world, but he resurfaces in the guise of the human Self. Rene Descartes (1596-1650) is typically taken as the founder of the modern concept of knowledge: knowledge which takes mathematical certainty as its ideal, independent of the authority of the past, grounded in the individual human subject. A straight line could be drawn in the history of ideas from this approach to Feuerbach's (1804-1872) position, deeply influential in the Marxist tradition, that all the attributes of a transcendent God refer, in reality, to the collective human consciousness. Theology has now been translated into anthropology.
The straight line extends naturally and inexorably to what is today referred to as the 'End of Enlightenment' or, 'high modernity' in Giddens' less dramatic terminology: a temper of mind that is dismissive of central Enlightenment notions such as objectivity, truth, critique, right reason and 'progress'. Even the reality of a unified human subject is now denied. In the early phases of modernity, the threatening experience of 'all that is solid melts into air' was countered by locating order and meaning in the autonomous human self (thinking, willing and judging); but now, that semi-divine self has splintered and dissolved into numerous 'subject positions' each thrown up by some context-specific human discourse. The human self is simply the point of interaction of myriad social and cultural forces. To use a famous metaphor of the French writer Michel Foucault, it is inscribed in sand on the ocean's edge, soon to be erased by the incoming tide.
Here it seems that postmodernism is simply modernism come home to roost. A movement that sought to guard the objectivity of truth from theological 'interference' has ended up doubting the very concept of truth. A movement that gloried in reason and exalted it above divine revelation has come to spurn the rational in every area of life. A movement that began with the divinization of the self has culminated in the loss of that very self.
These are but some of the many paradoxes of modernity. An age that began with a vigorous defence of human individuality spawned, in the regions of the world most influenced by modernity, either totalitarian states more all-embracing than any in antiquity or an equally oppressive consumerist conformity. The belief in human progress through the conquest of nature unleashed forces that now threaten the human species itself with extinction. The installation of Man as the Creator of all meaning and value, in an attempt to throw off the dead weight of the past and 'begin all over again', has as its outcome the denial of any meaning to the world and any significance to humankind. Modern life-styles promise freedom but lead to slavishly followed 'fads' and to new and powerful addictions. Modern relationships place a high premium on intimacy and authenticity, but are prone to fears of manipulation and one-upmanship. The marginalization of religion has itself bred numerous new religious movements, so that some of the most secularized states of the world are experiencing a nourishing of 'religious' interest. On modern college campuses in the West, works on astrology, mysticism and shamanism are evidently more popular than the works of Hume or Locke.
The peoples of the modern West (and the middle classes of non-western cultures) are better fed, better housed, better equipped with health care than those in any previous age in human history. But, paradoxically, they also seem to be the most fearful, the most divided, the most lonely, the most superstitious, and the most bored generation in human history. All the labour-saving devices of modern technology have only enhanced human stress, and modern life is characterized by a restless movement from place to place, from one 'experience' to another, in a frenetic whirl of purposeless activity.
faceless_combatant, also known as Adam, (from the official message boards) had an extra special time at his fair show in Valdosta, Georgia yesterday. He got the chance to play Company Car on stage with the guys, and was even lucky enough to get the whole thing on tape. Check it out:
The Feet are now embarking on their Australian tour so if you're an Aussie fan, be sure to catch one of those. Dates and places can be found right here on Switchfoot.com. Speaking of which, Jon recently did a phone interview with an Australian radio station. Listen here. They talk about everything from camping in caves to The Real SeanJon to solo records to Ect. Don't miss it.
You might remember the Rock Harbor Review post by Arpit, well now you can view that show in it's entirety here. You can also download it in Ipod format. Pretty sweet, right?
Mr. [Jon] Foreman posted a bulletin on Myspace letting us know he's neither for or against Macy's gift cards, and other good things, part of which is:
-I did a photo shoot with sean and andy for "the real sean jon" the other day. The photos include: a croquet set, a piano, a cheap wooden train set, a tree, custom t-shirts, baby photos, and a fireplace. And sean and I. We're hoping to have them up at the real sean jon myspace soon.
And he wasn't lying when he said they'd be up soon. Freshly posted, check them out at The Real SeanJon myspace.
Some of you may remember a show this past March in Ventura, CA that had a lot of cameras at it.
Well now we know why. The AT&T blue room Live Nation Weekly Concert Series has the entire performance up on their site, and you can watch it HERE. High quality and all. I like the different shots they got of each band member during every song. Thanks, lcp!
Andy Barron has been pretty busy lately updating us on the events of the summer. There are a few new Daily Foot entries from the various state fairs (this is one of my favorite shots) :
Andy also disclosed the following information
one girl requested that the guys play 'love is a movement' (probably one of my personal favs) on this next tour, and right then and there, jon decreed that it would be so (much to the delight of tim, who thought all the songs with good basslines got cut).
...I don't know about the rest of you, but this, to me, is some freakin' exciting news. That song is probably in my top 5 favorite Switchfoot songs. (And Tim is right, he gets a bit shafted...) So yeah. Get up, get up, love is moving you now...
As if that wasn't enough, Mr. Barron went ahead and unleashed Podcast 24. Hilariously entertaining as always, you can check it out on iTunes or Youtube. Thanks, Andy!
Lastly, it's story time with Jon when you read his latest myspace blog, "ye ol' tale of the coffee."
I visited two, ney, three coffee houses yesterday: this is ye ol' tale of the coffee.
houses of the coffee numero uno: a sticker on the front told me in no uncertain terms that friends don't let friends drink starbucks. The green and white letters were no friend of mine, however, as the door was locked and the place was completely vacant- which lead the coffee hunting party (chad, andy, jerome, drew, and I) further down the road in our quest for coff-iene and wireless interweb access...
Update: The Myspace Impact Awards has extended the voting to Friday August 24th, so you still have a few days to vote for TWLOHA! So GO VOTE every day from now until Friday! Peace. --
I think I can safely say that Jon's reverb screams into his guitar at the end of This Is Your Life is one of our favorite concert moments. Here is a pretty pro video of those classic "Jon-screams" we love so much.
Ever wondered what Drew and Romey did before they became world famous rock stars?
Meeting Switchfoot is just oh so fun. Even meeting them through the lens of someone you don't even know is fun.
I'm giving y'all a bonus video today because I think I skipped a week, and this cracks me up every time I see it. (It even has a Simpsons reference in it. Who wouldn't love that?)
Hey guys and gals. To Write Love On Her Arms, a movement that Switchfoot has been supportive of since its beginnings last March, is an amazing tool for giving hope to young people around the world who struggle with painful issues. It is currently a finalist in the Myspace Impact Awards, and with your help, it can reach even more people. All you have to do is go to this page and vote for TWLOHA. You can vote once a day but Friday (Aug 17) is the last day to vote! Jamie, the founder of TWLOHA, had this to say in his blog on TWLOHA's myspace:
If we win, it's pretty huge: MySpace donates $10,000 to the winner. If we win, half of that money will go directly to treatment and recovery through the organizations we currently support (Hopeline, Mercy, Teen Challenge, S.A.F.E., KidsHelp Australia), and the other half will go a long way towards helping us launch LIVE HELP via twloha.com.
Beyond the $10k, the winner will be featured on the front page of MySpace for one week, featured on the Impact Awards page for a month, and listed as a previous winner for the rest of the year.
We want to win. The front page of MySpace is the busiest single page on the entire internet. We can think of no better place for hope. We want to win because we want people to know that they're not alone. We want people to believe that rescue is possible, and we want people to believe that they are loved.
Switchfoot also posted a blog on their myspace about voting for TWLOHA:
Would you like to write a check from myspace's bank account? you can make it out to TWLOHA, for $10,000. Bigger than that you can continue to build a movement of love and healing, putting TWLOHA on the front page of myspace for a week.
go to www.myspace.com/towriteloveonherarms
On the TOP LEFT, IMPACT AWARDS... "CLICK HERE"
Scroll down, click little circle for To Write Love... SUBMIT
Today and tomorrow are the last days to ROCK THE VOTE. You can vote once a day.
So let's help make a difference. Remember, today and Friday are the last 2 days to vote, so make sure to get in your last 2 votes, and encourage others to do the same.
We heard Tim has a weakness for sweet tea (even though he isn't from the south.) And today is his birthday. So, as a toast to him and humor, we thought we'd present him with this (slightly creepy?) gift...
On behalf of us 'feedies, and all the fams: Happy birthday, Tim! We love you, man. We really do. A lot. Lyke... in a totally non-creepy way. =P
"Its Tim's birthday....on the east coast at least." - VArocker07
"Happy Birthday Tim! The last 5th of Switchfoot still in their 20's, make it count! :D" - gravyty
"happy birthday, my friend! i hope it's a great year!" - Katers
"Happy Happy Birthday! Here's to many more." - _Cookie
"Happy Birthday Tim! Hope your day is full of surf,family,friends,and cake!" - incomplete2
"Happy birthday, Tim! :) You rock! Today is reaallyyy great for some reason. And when I told this to my friend, all she said was "it's the power of Tim." LOL. :D Take care and God bless." - purplesky07
I hope you have a blessed day, amigo. Thanks for picking up that bass guitar many birthdays ago,
-phil
PS: Leave your birthday wishes for Tim in the comment box of this post!
For those unfamiliar with the wonderful genre of Twee, you're in for a little treat. It may sound like kids' music, but it's far from it. The artist that brings you today's song is The Boy Least Likely To, although the song they bring you is rather a classic - Faith by George Michael.
I really don't think I can say much about the song, but the instrumentation to this cover is absolutely amazing. I'm just at a loss for words. This will be the shortest writeup for an MOTW to date, and as soon as you hear the song, you'll know exactly why. So go check it out, and if you like it, grab their album - it is just as great!
I've got some exciting news: after several years of trying to make things work over at Columbia we have officially severed our ties with sony to pursue making music independently. We are thankful for the incredible success that our partnership has produced over the years, yet within this ever changing business there can arise differences in vision and goals. These differences have now come to a point where we feel like parting ways would be best for us, and best for sony.
As a hands-on band, we feel so grateful for our newfound freedom. We are continually dreaming up ways to bridge the gap between the audience and the stage; this feels like an incredible step in that direction. A huge thank you to bob, amy, nicole and tim over at columbia who were there from the beginning. We would also like to thank our musical family here in the states and abroad for sticking with us through these columbia years. We couldn't have done it without you! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ We'll have more information for you as things shape up. In the meantime, here are several projects already in the works for the next year:
four jon foreman solo ep's (tentatively titled fall, winter, spring, and summer) the real sean jon (a collaboration between jon foreman and sean watkins of nickel creek fame) a new switchfoot record in '08 (the first 13 tracks were cut this week!)
The folks who listen to our music mean the world to us, that's why we travel the world to get the music to them. So whether you're in Australia, the Philippines, The USA, Iraq, or Kuwait here are some upcoming tour dates to keep the world small:
8/11 West Allis, WI / Wisconsin State Fair 8/17 Sedalia, MO / Missouri State Fair 8/18 Des Moines, IA / Iowa State Fair 8/24 Louisville, KY / Kentucky State Fair 8/25 Valdosta, GA / Wild Adventures 8/31 Perth, AU / Challenge Stadium
9/1 Sydney, AU / Sydney Showground 9/5 Auckland, NZ / Telstra Clear Pacific Events Centre 9/6 Melbourne, AU / Festival Hall 9/7 Paradise, South AU / Paradise Auditorium 9/8 Brisbane, AU / Australia Brisbane Entertainment Centre 9/10 Manila, Philippines / Cunesta Astrodome
10/4 Weatherford, OK / Southwest Oklahoma State University 10/5 Tulsa, OK / Tulsa State Fair 10/12 Shippensburg, PA / Shippensburg University 10/13 Lynchburg, VA / Liberty University
Tour with Relient K begins (many more dates still to be added) 10/16 Charleston, WV/Charleston Municipal Auditorium 10/17 Columbus, OH / Veterans Memorial Auditorium 10/18 Holland, MI / DeVos Fieldhouse 10/19 Cedar Falls, IA / University of N Iowa 10/20 Saint Paul, MN / Concordia University 10/21 Fargo, ND / Fargo Dome 10/23 Merrillville, IN / Star Plaza Theatre 10/24 Evansville, IN / The Centre
11/9 Springfield, IL / Prairie Capitol Convention Center 11/10 Green Bay, WI / UW-Green Bay - Campus Grounds 11/11 Moline, IL / The Mark of the Quad Cities 11/13 Ypsilanti, MI / EMU Convocation Hall 11/14 Cincy, OH / Cincinnati Gardens 11/15 University Park, PA / Penn State Bryce Jordan Center 11/16 Bethlehem, PA / Lehigh Univ-Stabler Arena 11/17 New York, NY / Hammerstein Ballroom 11/27 Irvine, CA / Bren Events Center 11/28 San Luis Obispo, CA / Cal Poly Recreation Center 11/29 San Jose, CA / San Jose Civic Auditorium 11/30 Davis, CA / UC Davis
12/1 Medford, OR / Jackson County Expo 12/2 Salem, OR / Oregon State Fair 12/3 Everett, WA / Everett Events Center 12/9 -12/18 IRAQ/KUWAIT TRIP
Thanks for singing along! jon, tim, chad, jerome, and drew
(pic by Andy Barron, from the just-updated Daily Foot)
A song bursting with angst. Not of the my-girlfriend-dumped-me-so-life-sucks variety, though. A song full of layers... of brooding, meaning, of rage against the machine. They give the live version something that I think would make a great addition to the studio version (as an "extended remix", maybe?): an outro with a screaming guitar-solo in characteristic Drew style: squealing, restlessly spinning. A dark bassline that provides catchiness to the chaos. A crowd caught up in the moment. A lead singer for whom the words he'd written a while ago and had been singing night after night suddenly became fresher than ever as he screams it out. He picks up a drum stick and begins banging away at the cymbal, in sync with the music. This is metal, except, by that word you're not talking about a genre of music. More like the ability of sounds produced by metal objects to pierce like only metal can. Maybe we're just a bunch of kids that are hard to understand, maybe a product of our times, maybe the little group that's always been and always will until the end. But at the moment you're on stage and maybe it's the camera flashlight from the crowd that hit your eyes. In that blinding fraction of a second, for some reason, you drop your drum stick and pick up your guitar. You didn't even blink, let alone think. All of a sudden it's a beautiful guitar you're smashing the cymbal with, not a drum stick. You're breaking the protocol, not merely a guitar. You might get bad press. "He's trying too hard to be cool." "Try something that hasn't been done before." "What a waste." Or maybe good press. "That's so f***ing cool." But you don't care. There's nothing new under the sun anyway. There's no thing that isn't eventually gonna go to waste anyway. And you've even written a song about how nothing is cool. But of course, you're not thinking about all that - these things happen so fast and only afterwards do you realize what you just did. A rush of blood to the head, and you're tapping into that whiff of a strange beauty that there is in breaking, in letting go. Maybe it's symbolic. Even if you may not have intended it to be.
Whether it's dancing naked in celebration before the sacred Ark like King David, or tearing your cloak in a moment of desperation, this biblical, psalmist's style of expression, one of passion and honesty, of wearing your heart on your sleeve, is a lost art among many a folk these days. So, it is much to my pleasure that Jon seems to embrace it. As a lover of rock shows, I'm not always sure when artists smash their guitars, but I also try to keep the context in mind. The song, the moment, the feeling, the execution. If it's kept real, I must admit it can be quite a moment.
Anyhow, file that under "operating costs", Mr. Accountant... all for a job well done, a good evening well-provided, Mr. Entertainer.
First of all, I want to apologize for the delay. My computer decided to die on me as I was working on the videos and mp3's for this post, and so I've been spending all weekend and today, just transferring everything over to my new baby :D
But on to the fun stuff. For the second Friday in a row, I got to see Jon play an acoustic set. This time, the venue was a little bigger, and there was a little bit more room to breathe. However, I still ended up with cramped legs by the time Jon was done playing. Why? Well, even though there were seats, I was sitting in the aisle center stage. Which means that I got some decent photos, and great footage of some of the new songs that Jon played.
The setting was the Habitat for Humanity benefit show hosted at a local church in Orange County, Rock Harbor. The lineup for the night included Molly Jenson, Drew Bray, AJ Degrasse, and then, as Phil so eloquently put it last week, "our lead singer man". All natives of San Diego (at one point, if not currently), this was rather a reunion of friends coming together and supporting a great organization. Jon even had a few words to share with y'all (just pretend I'm from the south).
All the acts that night had been great, and, like the previous week, the anticipation was for Jon to take the stage. Now, I'd gotten to talk to him beforehand, and asked him to play 'Learning How To Die', to which I got a "you got it, dude". Can I stop for a second and just say I love California? 'Dude' has to be my favorite tag-along word of all time. It's better than man, bro, or anything else you can think of, because you can use it without regard to gender. But I digress.
In any case, since I saw Jon write the song down in his book, I knew it was coming - it was simply a matter of time. And because I had hoped for him to play it, I brought along my camera as well. Now, I don't do video. I'm a photographer. So if the video sucks, I apologize. I tried my best! And yet again I find myself wasting time. Moving right along. So Jon got on stage with Keith on cello, and Aaron on percussion. After a few words to the audience, the guys jumped right in to 'Meant To Live'. It was the first time I was seeing that song done acoustic, and Aaron had this amazing beat going and Keith added the depth of the cello to the sound so well that I don't know if I'd enjoy this with the whole band again! Yeah, my sense of humor pops in every now and again.
'Lord Save Me From Myself' was next, and just like last week (this time with the added cello element), I just had a blast listening to the song. As the song ended, Jon went into his humor/interaction mode with the audience. I guess he'd read a little quote that he found really interesting - "Politics is rock 'n roll for ugly people". The whole audience tore into laughter. "I don't know what I think about that, I just thought it was a good quote". He was talking about the following song, 'Betrayal', which he's written with Sean as part of The Real Sean Jon. A "murder/mystery ballad", as Jon described it, it's in the same vein of 'bring me down, break my heart' tunes that Jon's been writing lately, and that I can't get enough of:
So I watched her as you put me in the dirt, She had my wallet tucked inside her skirt, And I went numb, I went numb, So I'm not dead if what you did don't hurt...
That last line is just killer. I love how he phrases that. It could have easily been 'I'm dead because of what you did' or something along those lines, but the twist on the words makes me appreciate Jon's songwriting tremendously!
The next song on the list was definitely a crowd pleaser, 'Only Hope'. Jon asked Keith to start the song off "with that big, beautiful, funny-looking guitar over there". Of course, the crowd was excited, but I was waiting for but one song. And it just happened to be next. "I know when I go to a concert... I wanna see Radiohead play 'Just', not the song they wrote yesterday," said Jon, "so here's a song that I wrote yesterday". 'Learning How To Die'. I was speechless. I mean that in all honesty. The song is just absolutely beautiful:
Thought I was learning how to take, How to bend, not how to break, How to live, not how to cry, But really I've been learning how to die...
From the first moment I heard this song, it's been stuck in my head, and nothing's gonna get it out. Well, maybe Alzheimer's but I don't have to worry about it yet. It's the epitome of what I feel Jon's songs have been about as of late. They're very relationship-oriented. It seems to me that the common theme through them is one of heartbreak and getting back to what's really true. But at the same time I don't feel comfortable writing them off as such. There's such a dynamic in the songs that I've seen and heard that it confuses my obsessive compulsive mind in categorizing the new songs. But maybe that's a good thing!
The next song was another murder/mystery song, one that Jon always hoped would become an SF song, but never did. "When you start talking about b-sides, you feel like a total nerd. But, it's my own band, so I guess I can be a nerd for that." The first time I heard this song was when I saw Jon play the Hotel Cafe with Tom Morello. I know it's been a while since then, but I'm gonna try and put up photos from them one of these days. In any case, the song, 'Revenge' is one that I've enjoyed as much as Phil, who has a great write-up on that somewhere in the far recesses of Switchfeed. I think you should check it out (since I'm gonna move right ahead to the next few songs).
'Southbound Train' was started off with quite an interesting confession from Jon: "I used to hate anyone who would ever even veer anything near country... I can't say I love country, [but] I love harmonicas, man... they're just happening." A song that he wrote "on the Amtrak from Santa Barbara to San Diego", 'Southbound Train' was just as beautiful as last week. I think it was at this point in the night that the crowd was swooning for the first time. There was this moment of stillness and peace that just sort of fell on the crowd as they heard this song, and it made the experience that much more enjoyable!
After taking off the harmonica, Jon invited Molly on stage to play one of the songs they've written. This time around, they only played one, but it's the one missing video from last week - 'The Ones Who Look Like You'. After a brief moment of trying to figure out the right key (which was hilarious, by the way - just watch the video), they got into the song, and this one's full of questions. There's seriously 3 lines in the whole song that don't ask a question, those compiling into a rather interesting result:
You've been gone to long... See, I'm alone when you're around... Listen love to a melody for you...
It's the conflict of those first 2 statements with each other, and the conjunction of that with that 3rd line that gives me a feel for the entire song. Is it just me though?
While the crowd was still recovering from the couple new tunes, Jon threw another new song our way on the behest of someone in the audience. I was totally for it - it was exactly what I was saying last week - ask Jon to play his new stuff! So anyway, Jon switched gears from the rather melancholic tone of the previous song, into the fun sound of 'War In My Blood'. The audience was clapping right along with the song, and I was tapping my feet because it was just fun. Yeah, I know I need to expand my vocabulary some, but just listen to the song, and you'll say the same:
It takes two to go to war And only one to fall in love...
I just love that lyric right there. It makes the whole freaking song for me!
Next came another song I'd heard Jon & Keith play at the Hotel Cafe. A wonderful cover of the song 'Sorrow' by Bad Religion. I never really cared much for Bad Religion's music, until I'd heard Jon play that song, and it's become one of my favorite songs since then. Jon had mentioned both nights that this song was his favorite Bad Religion song, and added this time that "it reminds [him] of a lot more than a punk song on the radio". Even though I've heard this song enough times now, as Jon was playing it, I was listening to the lyrics all over again. They reminded me of the book of Job, and all the suffering he went through, and just reconfirmed why I enjoy this song as much as I do.
Finishing that song, Jon proceeded to finish the set with another SF song, 'Dare You To Move'. I think it was absolutely appropriate for the setting that evening. It was a benefit for Habitat for Humanity, and the church hosting the event was doing so as part of what they dub as 'The GO Campaign'. It's where you go out and do, rather than just say. I like the saying that "love is a verb", and in light of this church modeling that, Jon's choice of song was rather a call to arms. It was a challenge to GO. Definitely a great way to end the set!
But little did Jon know that he'd be called back up for an encore. "I'll let you in on a little secret - we don't have an encore." But hacked together a little something. He introduced the "suite" as having two parts, a prequel, and a sequel (although technically you'd need a third song which they would be relative to, unless, of course, they're relative to each other :p). The prequel happened to be 'Let Your Love Be Strong', which is a beautiful song as is. The sequel is a song that Jon wrote a couple months ago. "I've been able to, I feel like, for the first time in my life, write songs that I would classify as worship, and I feel like it's a real breakthrough for me because I like the element of involving myself with the God of Creation through music." 'Your Love Is Strong' is a response to 'Let Your Love Be Strong' (as the title suggests), and is just a very honest and simple song along the lines of 'The Lord's Prayer'. But it's so much more. To me, it's a cry for change, a cry to be so much more than here and now, and a cry for change of perspective. It's definitely well-written, and much better than most of the worship songs I've heard.
All in all, the night was amazing to say the least. I almost feel sad that I won't get to see Jon play another set this Friday night. But unless he's gonna be doing so in Atlanta, I wouldn't be able to make it anyhow. I hope you guys enjoy the videos (and not get nauseous), the photos, and the mp3's. Let me know if any of them don't work for any reason (I've checked every link, but you can't be too sure). Oh, and the lyrics for 'Learning How To Die' and 'The Ones Who Look Like You' are below. Again, enjoy!
"I'm gonna miss you, I'm gonna miss you when you're gone" She says "I, love you, I'm gonna miss hearing your songs"
I said "Please, Don't talk about the end, Don't talk about how Every living thing goes away"
She said, "Friend, all along, Thought I was learning how to take, How to bend, not how to break, How to live, not how to cry, But really I've been learning how to die I've been learning how to die"
"Hey everyone, I've got nowhere to go, The grave is lazy, He takes our bodies slow"
I said "Please, Don't talk about the end, Don't talk about how Every living thing goes away"
I said, "Friend, all along, Thought I was learning how to take, How to bend, not how to break, How to live, not how to cry, But really I've been learning how to die I've been learning how to die"
Lyrics for 'The Ones Who Look Like You':
Where's your heart? Where's this love you talk about? Did someone hold a gun To your head? Who's that girl you laugh about? Did a feeling do you wrong? You've been gone too long.
Did you love her? Did you leave her cold? Did you see her through? Or do you only love the ones who look like you?
Where are you now? Are you afraid of being found? See, I'm alone when you're around. Silly girl, What can you see from way up there? Is that the world in devil's clothes Looking down your nose?
Are you lonely? Are my scars too deep? Do you have them too? Do you only love the ones who look like you?
Listen love To a melody for you Will you change your point of view? Or do you only love the ones who sing your tune? Do you only love the ones who look like you?
Just remembered that I figured out the lyrics for the new songs a while ago, and never did anything with them. So if anyone was wondering what Jon and Molly actually are singing, here's my stab at accuracy:
MOLLY/JON SONG:
Last night, I had a dream that we fell in love Under moonlight You and I in lover's touch But morning came too soon, I woke up without you (chorus): If you want me, why do you look the other way? If you need me, why do you say the things you say? If you love me, why do we play the games we play? Am I in love with the dreamer, or am i just in love with the dream?
When I dream, girl, you're the dream that might come true When you dream, girl, Do you even know it's you? Dreams have eyes and skin, But dreams can't tuck me in, so (chorus)
Ohh, are you leaving? Heeey, are you leaving so soon? Heeey when you leave me, You leave me with the hope That my dream with you Might come true True (chorus) ...am I in love with a dreamer, I'm not sure i'm still in love with the dream.
RUNNIN FROM ME:
I'm stuck with these sins I'm hoping maybe time can resolve 'em I'm a lyin' cheatin' thievin' coward Who's tryin to follow Christ I'm hoping he can fix this old dog with new tricks 'Cause death is my only device Yeah death is my only device!
(chorus): I said I needed room to breathe I said I needed to break free Well all that's true Thought I was running from you Turns out I was runnin from me
There's a girl who lives down my street She says the flowers take care of the bees She tells me I'm poor and my daddy's at war Oh who's gonna take care of me? Now if history is violence and sex I'd rather not pay my respects If I've caused offense, if I'm too direct I'm just trying to talk some sense I'm politically incorrect! (chorus)
La la la la la la runnin away from me
I've been giving this a lot of thought Who am I and who on earth is God? The answer ain't kind Or easy to find, But by God it's the only answer I got Yeah God it's the only chance I've got! (chorus)
La la la la la la runnin away from me...
So that's what I hear. If you have any questions or corrections or disagreements, feel free to throw 'em at me in the comment box, and I won't take it personally.
Below is a review of an acoustic show our lead singer man performed at, on 27th July, at Lestat's (San Diego), with a couple of his friends, Molly Jenson and Greg Laswell. The review is by Arpit Mehta, who writes for the 'mp3 of the week' column at switchfeed.com. Audio/video for 3 of the songs discussed in the review can be found at the bottom of this post. --
Molly: So Jon emailed me one day and was like, 'Hey let's write a song together!' And I peed in my pants. Jon: It was awkward. M: But you know, I was thinking he was just being nice and saying 'Oh yeah lets hang out!' and not really wanna hang out. J: Like when you sign yearbooks! M: Yeah, like that. J: Have a great summer! M: Call me! J: Yeah, like they leave they're number and no one even bothers to call it, stuff like that.... I actually called a person once. M: Really? J: Yeah, it was awkward. M: Hahahahaa! J: Like you write, 'This year was rad!' When it wasn't really rad at all. M: Yeah, I know how that goes. J: It's not supposed to be rad, ya know? It's the 7th grade! [laughter] M: So anyways, a couple of weeks later he emailed me again... so we wrote this song! J: Now THIS is rad! (Thanks, Gabby, for transcribing that. Disclaimer: the quotes above may not be exact, but as best as could be recollected.)
So started out Jon's set last Friday at LeStat's in San Diego. The dialogue between Molly Jenson and Jon occurred as they explained about writing a couple songs earlier this year. There's always something magical that happens when two talented songwriters join to write music together, and the very same happened with Jon and Molly. Both songs they played were beautiful to say the least. They followed a similar theme of relationships that aren't meant to be. They ask the greater question of motives, and I for one thought they were wonderfully written. The chorus that stuck in my head is from the song currently dubbed as 'Dreamer':
Am I in love with the dreamer, Or am I just in love with the dream? After the couple songs they played, Molly stepped off the stage, and left Jon to play the rest of his set. It'd been a fantastic night thus far, with Travis Oberg, Greg Laswell, and Molly playing their individual sets. But you could tell that, for better or for worse, the anticipation was to see Jon play. I'm not sure how much of the crowd expected him to play Switchfoot songs, but I was there to really hear Jon's music, which is what he primarily played. He did throw in a couple SF tunes here and there, but he declined to play Chem 6A, which I was really glad about :D ...since I wanted to hear more of his solo material.
He started out his solo set with 'Moon Is A Magnet'. This is probably the funkiest song that Jon's ever written. No, I'm not talking James Brown funk. It's in this weird time signature that I can't figure out for the life of me - it's like 9/4 or 9/5 or something (don't quote me on that). Like I said, weird. It's an interesting song (no, it doesn't suck) in that it reminds me of Arcade Fire's 'My Body Is A Cage', albeit more hopeful, despite the melancholy that's obviously there.
Now one thing that began to show as the songs kept coming is what we know to be true. There is a heartfelt emotion and honesty about Jon's writing that is very attractive. It is why we enjoy Switchfoot as much as we do. In what Jon's been writing lately, there's an even greater amount of that, and comes through in inordinate amounts on songs such as 'Somebody's Baby'. I'd seen the video of that several months ago while SF was on tour, and was immediately taken aback by the nature of the lyrics. When I saw Jon play it the other night, it was an entirely different experience. He introduced the song by saying it was a 'sad, sad song'. To date, it has to be one of the most beautiful, though heart wrenching, songs that Jon's ever written (at least to me). I don't think much of the room was ready for it, and other than Jon's vocals and the accompanying guitar and percussion, you could not hear a sound if you tried.
'Southbound Train' was a first for me. I hadn't heard it, nor heard of it. What really attracts me to this song is the realism of it. Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying the other songs aren't 'real', but hear me out. He sings about reaching Oceanside, which, to anyone around San Diego, is as real as it gets. I've driven past Oceanside on several occasions, and now when I drive past it again, I'm going to be thinking of that song. And that's not all either. I can just imagine sitting in that train with my head against the cold window pane, every breath fogging it up, just lost in thought. It's simply beautiful.
Another song that I enjoyed when I first heard it, and really came to life as I heard it played that night was 'Lord, Save Me From Myself'. In this song, Jon seems to tackle the issues of self and identity. Popular culture and the media throws stuff in our faces daily, trying to tell us who we are, how we should behave and how we should respond to circumstances. But who are we, truly? Living the modern life with no brakes will leave us "hollow modern shell[s]". It's songs like these that, in their simplicity, convey volumes, and that's why I believe music like this ought to be in the forefront of culture today.
Jon's collaboration with a team of doctors led him to the finding 'The Cure For Pain'. Of course, Jon's quite a jest, and admittedly, not always great at delivering his jokes, which is probably why the room was unsure as to where Jon was going with this. "No, not really, I'm just joking. But that's what the song's called, the Cure for Pain." The song seemed to be about emptiness, and the cure thereof. He sings about broken cisterns never being filled even when the water keeps pouring. We are those broken cisterns, and the water is love. Love is the cure, but it doesn't stay in there long enough, because of the "fire pulsing through our veins". The contrasting image of water and fire is beautifully portrayed in this song, and reminded me of why I enjoy Jon's songwriting. :)
Next came the story of 'A Man Named Pride'. This song is truly "a long, dark story". I don't think I need to really talk about what this song might be about... I'd say it's pretty obvious, wouldn't you? Perhaps Jon was inspired by Johnny Cash into writing this one. It's got this great country sound to it with lyrics like old folk songs. It reminds me of 'Hung My Head' a little, but obviously a lot faster. I wonder what would happen if he got a blues pianist to accompany him if he ever records this track. I think it would be sick!
The last song that night (that Jon played instead of Chem6A) was 'Running From Me'. Another fast song in similar vein to 'A Man Named Pride', this was a first for me as well. The one word that accurately describes this song is 'catchy'. It's right up there with 'Moon Is A Magnet' - the chorus just gets stuck in your head:
Well all that's true That I was running from you, Turns out I was running from me...
Just hear it, and you'll agree. The lyrics somewhat mirror those of 'Lord, Save Me From Myself' in light of the honesty that Jon writes with, about who he really is (well, unless the speaker is someone else). Is violence and sex all that our history is meant to be made up of, or were we "meant to live for something more?" (Sorry, I just had to throw that in there). The audience was clapping along to the song, and even singing along on Jon's request. It was a high note to end the night on, and though I could not walk right for the next several minutes, it'd been just a great experience.
I will say that I was disappointed when I saw Jon's potential setlist. He wanted to play a couple new songs, one that's never been played before - 'Learning How To Die'. He also was hoping to play 'War In My Blood', but ended up swapping those out for a couple SF tunes that people requested. :( Now, I know that we enjoy Switchfoot, but when it's just Jon playing, encourage him to play new songs. We all want new songs, but if we keep asking for 'Chem 6A' and 'Company Car', those aren't going to surface. So yeah, please keep that in mind if you get a chance to go see him.
Oh, I nearly forgot. Jon's already mentioned on his blog that he let the cat out of the bag, but the guys are in studio this week to start recording the follow-up to 'Oh! Gravity.' They're going in to record only five tunes for now, but it's exciting nonetheless, because that may mean a new Switchfoot album next year, hopefully!
Setlist: Moon Is A Magnet Somebody's Baby Company Car Southbound Train Lord, Save Me From Myself The Cure for Pain A Man Named Pride There There (Radiohead Cover) Amy's Song Running From Me
Other images from the night:
The birthday girl, Darla, for whom this was all thrown together
Jon observing the show from the side of the stage
Jon holding up a cupcake Molly made for the birthday girl
A few people enjoying and clapping their hands to 'Running From Me'
Thanks to Gabby, one of our readers who was at the show, we have a few videos (AND mp3 rips of them! To download those you'll need an esnips account, though.)
Jon and Molly performing 'Dreamer', which they wrote together (download mp3):
